Call Of Duty League Paris Major IV

The Call of Duty League Major IV at Plenitude Arena: OpTic Texas Crowned, Paris Gentle Mates Heroic, and a Weekend That Reinvented Esports in France

From June 26 to 28, 2026, Plenitude Arena was the stage for one of the most significant esports events ever held in Europe. The fourth Major of the Call of Duty League season brought together the twelve best teams in the world on Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 at the largest indoor venue on the continent, for three days of absolute intensity. When the dust settled, it was OpTic Texas who lifted the trophy after one of the most breathtaking finals in league history.

4.7 million viewing hours over the entire weekend

A first for Paris, and Plenitude Arena to mark the occasion

This Major IV was a landmark for the French capital, which had never before hosted a Call of Duty tournament of this scale. And for such a historic debut, only one address was equal to the moment: Plenitude Arena, Europe’s largest covered venue. The event, co-organised by Activision and French organisation Gentle Mates, co-founded by Squeezie, Gotaga and Brawks, turned the dream of a CDL Major on French soil into a spectacular reality.

Tickets were snapped up the moment they went on sale: more than 40,000 sold in a matter of hours. Around 10,000 supporters were already in the stands on Friday, there to back the home team from the very start. A powerful signal: France was hungry for live Call of Duty, and Plenitude Arena was the only venue capable of meeting that demand.

Giant screens, a fan zone and a football stadium atmosphere

The arena was configured as a dedicated esports venue, with a bespoke stage design, giant screens and a live broadcast setup built to give every spectator in the room the best possible experience. A full fan zone rounded out the offering, with activations, photo booths, competitions and meet-and-greets with players and content creators.

When the lights dropped between matches and the arena transformed, the crowd got behind Gentle Mates the way fans do at a football match, each decisive round ratcheting up the tension another notch. Through the stands of Plenitude Arena, club shirts, flags and chants mingled with the flash of giant screens broadcasting every shot, every flank and every clutch play in real time. Esports was no longer something you watched from a sofa: it was something experienced collectively, inside one of the largest venues in the world.

Three days, twelve teams, a final for the ages

The double-elimination tournament, with a total prize pool of $365,000, put precious CDL points on the line for the end-of-season Championship qualification. Here is how the weekend unfolded at Plenitude Arena:

Friday June 26: the tournament opened with the first upper and lower bracket matches. Paris Gentle Mates began their campaign with a defeat against FaZe Vegas before bouncing back against Cloud9 New York.

Saturday June 27: the intensity rose sharply. Gentle Mates strung together a series of victories in the Losers Bracket, eliminating Miami Heretics, G2 Minnesota and FaZe Vegas in succession before a Plenitude Arena that was at boiling point.

Sunday June 28: the day of reckoning. Paris Gentle Mates fell in the Losers Bracket semi-final against OpTic Texas but secured a magnificent third place. The grand final pitted OpTic Texas against the Los Angeles Thieves, the season’s heavy favourites. Trailing 0-3, OpTic Texas turned the series around to win 4-3 in a best-of-seven that fully justified every expectation.

Final standings:

• 1st: OpTic Texas
• 2nd: Los Angeles Thieves
• 3rd: Paris Gentle Mates
• 4th: FaZe Vegas

Gotaga’s Twitch co-stream outpaced the league’s official broadcast

Beyond the sporting results, this Major IV redefined the standards of the Call of Duty League. The event peaked at more than 378,000 simultaneous viewers, accumulating a total of 4.7 million hours watched across the weekend.

In a relatively rare occurrence for the esports ecosystem, the viewership peak was not reached during the grand final but during the Losers Bracket final between Paris Gentle Mates and OpTic Texas. Gotaga’s Twitch co-stream outpaced the league’s official broadcast, capturing the majority of the global audience.

The creator economy is no longer just about views: it produces events, it organises tournaments, it fills arenas. What Squeezie and Gotaga achieved with Gentle Mates at Plenitude Arena is exactly that: turning years of community-building into a physical event, into ticket sales, into collective chills down the spine. With local commentary provided by Doigby, Brawks, Squeezie, Laure Valée and Christophe Agius, this event confirmed the viability and success of a CDL Major relocated to Europe.

Three days that proved Plenitude Arena is also a home for esports

There was something unique in the air at Plenitude Arena on June 26, 27 and 28, 2026. A venue accustomed to rock concerts and global pop shows became, for one weekend, the centre of the competitive Call of Duty world. Tens of thousands of spectators who might never have set foot in an esports arena left with their voices gone and their heads full of images they will not forget.

The OpTic Texas comeback in the final, Paris Gentle Mates’ heroic run to the podium, 378,000 simultaneous viewers online: this Major IV reinvented everything. And Plenitude Arena was a big part of why.